Whispers of Wisdom with Dr. Judith

6 Fun Outdoor Activities!

Most children love to play outside! There are endless games to be played and many things to be discovered outdoors. Furthermore, here is a list of 6 fun activites to try with your kids.

Name-It Ball: Have the kids form a circle. You can also draw a circle using chalk to make it visible to all the players. Give one player a bal.l (could be a rubber ball or bouncy ball) The person who you give the ball to gets to choose a category such as “candy.” Then he or she bounces the ball to another player in the circle, who must catch the ball after one bounce. That child must say something that belongs that category. For example, the category was candy so the child could say something like, “skittles, lilipops, m& m’s.” They then bounce the ball to the next player. If the player can’t name an item, holds the ball too long, or repeats an item, he or she is must step outside the circle and is out of the game until it starts over again.

Hopscotch: All you need is some sidewalk chalk to make the picture shown above. You can make up your own rules depending on the age of the child. Here is a set of rules you can go by but you can tweak it however you want. First, you want to get some kind of marker to throw (for example a stone, coin or bean bag). The first player throws the marker in the first square. The player then hops on through the course, skipping the square with the marker in it. The single squares must be hopped on with only one foot. You can start with any foot you want. With the side by side squares you hop in the squares landing with both feet. When reaching the last square, the player must turn around and return through the course (square 9, then squares 7 & 8, next square 6 and so forth) on one or two legs depending on the square. The person continues until he or she reaches the square with their marker. They then must pick up their marker and continue the course without stepping into another players marker.

Next, the player continues his/her turn by tossing the marker into square number two, and repeating the pattern.

If while hopping and the player steps on a line, misses a square, or loses balance, the turn ends and the next player gets to go. Players can begin their turn where they last left off. The first player to complete one course for every numbered square on the court wins the game.

Hide and Seek: Good old hide and seek around the yard can be a fun one! Hiding and finding is a common interest of small children. There are all kinds of variations of this game. Sometimes there is a home base that you can run to and tag, and that is “home base or the safe zone,” sometimes you just wait to be found. Whatever way you choose to play, generally one person is “it,” and that person closes his or her eyes and counts to a certain number without looking. Then he or she yells out something like, “Okay, I’m ready to find you!” That person tries to find the people that are hiding!

Body Race: Divide the group into two teams. Give each team a blanket. Have one player from each team lie down on the blanket. The teams must drag the blanket with the person from one end of the yard to the other. Whoever crosses the finish line first, wins.

An adventurous nature walk: Take some masking tape and fold it into a circle/bracelet, putting it on your child’s wrist. Make sure the sticky part is facing outwards so it doesn’t stick to their wrist. Take a walk with your child and let them collect things from your walk like sticks, leaves, grass and flower pedals. They can place those things they collected on their sticky bracelet. By the end of the walk they will have an exciting collection of nature.

Picnic in the park: Pick a fun theme for your picnic. For example, you can plan a beach themed picnic even if you don’t live near a beach that’s okay you can bring the beach to you and your guests. Have your child plan parts of your picnic, it’s great for their imagination too!

A beach theme could include things like a volleyball game, Frisbee, swimming, sandcastles and bonfires. Find a park with some sand and bring buckets, shovels etc.. Does the park have a bonfire pit. If they do make sure to bring some wood. You can also plan all sorts of food. An easy way to go might be fingerfood so you don’t have to worry about bringing silverware etc..Good picnic foods include grapes, berries, sandwiches, carrots etc..

Most all kids love being outside and getting some fresh air, so whether you’re running through the sprinkler, picking weeds with your kids in the garden or blowing bubbles just spending quality time together is the most important! Have fun!!

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